This week’s theme
Tosspot words

This week’s words
pinchfist
makeweight


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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MAYK-wayt)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Someone or something of little independent value, added to fill a gap.
2. Something added to make up a required weight.

ETYMOLOGY:

From make, from Old English macian (to make) + weight (weight), from Old English wiht. Earliest documented use: 1695.

NOTES:

If you’ve ever written “United States of America” instead of “USA” in a high-school essay just to reach the required word count, you’ve used a makeweight. Your prose has put on weight even if your argument is still a little thin.

USAGE:

“[Nicholas Serota, the Tate’s director] advises the new judges to short-list only artists whom they regard as capable of winning. ‘There shouldn’t be someone brought in simply as a makeweight.’”
Sarah Thornton; Reality Art Show; The New Yorker; Mar 19, 2007.

See more usage examples of makeweight in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: